How long does a turkey take to grow?

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shinysatins

shinysatins

In the Brooder
9 Years
Jul 9, 2010
24
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I just got some midget white poults, but I'm thinking I might like to get one or two turkeys that I could butcher for Thanksgiving. How old would they need to be now in order to be big enough to butcher in 6 weeks or so?

I'm also wondering what to expect as far as what age the midget whites reach sexual maturity and/or butchering age.

Shiny
 
I've got some midget whites and they are very slow growing and don't get very big. Mine did have a sudden big growth spurt and now finally look like turkeys, but they are still about the size of a skinny Cornish Cross chicken.

If you want to eat Midget White for thanksgiving, I suggest that you buy a bird who is already big enough to butcher. Another month of growth won't hurt him and you can feed a good diet to try to get the best tasting meat. A month of feeding on your own program would be good.

Or were you thinking of buying a full sized bird, or maybe a broad breasted white for this year's feast?
 
I was thinking more of buying a teenaged turkey of one of the full-sized breeds, not eating a midget white this year. :) Thanks!
 
You are barely more than a month before you would butcher, so get one that is the size that you want. Another month of feed will only make it slightly bigger. What a month of feed will do for you is give you a chance to feed the bird what you want and perhaps affect the flavor. It's not enough time to grow very much turkey.
 
First time turkey raiser here...
I have 2 White Midgets and 2 Blue Palms.
They were all hatched on the same date May 25th making them almost 5 months old.
The Palm are only slightly larger (barely noticable) than the Midgets.
I know the Midgets don't get big but even the Palms don't look big enough to butcher.
They free range all day, get scratch grains in the morning and have free choice multi-flock pellets at night.
How long for the heritage breeds to get to buthering size and when do they start to gobble?
Mine just chirp and chortle.
Thanks for any advice!
 
I only started raising heritage turkeys last year and only been hatching my own Holland Whites this year, but I do know they take about 9 months to get to decent size for slaughtering. BB turkeys only take about 5 months, to get much larger. I think Midget whites only get to about 12 pounds, so I think of them as chicken size turkeys, cause my Brahmas and Black Giants are larger than that. Royal Palms, I have been told aren't large birds either and are the pretty boys and girls of the turkey world, bred more for show than for meat. Maybe someone out there with more experience with these breeds can be of more help? How about it Turkey folk??Any takers???
idunno.gif
 

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